SAAB - Tactical Training Technology
SAAB Moves From HMI Research to State of the Art Simulator With Presagis' Unified Solution
The SAAB corporation develops, manufactures, and delivers advanced products and services for air, land, and sea operations. As part of its airborne training program, SAAB has been developing a unique simulator that provides pilots with the opportunity to experience an electronic warfare environment. SAAB's Training and Tactical/Technical Development Simulation System, or T3SIM, is tailored for many-versus-many man-in-the-loop simulations occurring in real-time.
With generic pilot stations, the T3SIM can simulate a wide range of air force fighters and helicopters. The simulated environments include both friendly and hostile forces, combat command and control, air defenses, and other computer-generated forces. Overall, the T3SIM offers training that includes the entire tactical loop, from mission planning through exercise and execution to analysis and after action review. Since 1998, the Swedish Air Force Air Combat Simulation Centre (FLSC) has been using the T3SIM for its study of both the technical and tactical aspects of man-in-the-loop simulations.
Presagis tools have reduced the cost of new development, have made it easy for us to develop new T3SIM functionalities, and have helped us to get these functionalities to our customers sooner.
Michael Sahlberg, Sales Manager
Training & Simulation for SAAB AB, SAAB Systems
Initial Development
The project was first initiated as a program to create a test-bed for cockpit Human Machine Interface (HMI) research. This research was intended to help SAAB develop both cockpit instruments and testing-training scenarios for their instrumentation. While the project began with in-house tools, the developers at SAAB felt that building the test-bed with Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) products would be more efficient both in terms of resource allocation and overall development time.
According to Michael Sahlberg, Sales Manager, Training & Simulation for SAAB AB, SAAB Systems, "we were using in-house tools but soon realized that the time it would take to develop our own tools for this project would be less cost-effective than using COTS tools." In addition, explains Sahlberg, the developers decided that the system should be based on accepted standards in order to "reduce costs and provide the flexibility necessary to integrate new hardware and software components."
SAAB turned to Presagis' unified software solutions. Sahlberg explains that, "since we needed COTS products that could help us to develop both cockpit instruments and scenarios, it just made sense to choose a single provider for both applications." As a result, the development team at SAAB employed VAPS and STAGE to begin development on the system. The decision to choose Presagis as the single provider for both applications meant that SAAB selected a cost-effective solution that helped them to focus on their project.
The Evolution of the T3SIM
Although originally conceived as a test-bed for cockpit HMI research, the project soon evolved into the development of a simulator that, with add-ons, could function as a high-fidelity tactical trainer. And, along with this new focus came new design objectives. While this new simulator would, like the test-bed, be based on COTS tools, these same tools would have to meet new design and development objectives. With a view to the future, the team established three key objectives to ensure that the simulator could satisfy changing customer needs. According to the development team's own specifications, the T3SIM would have to be configurable, scalable, and adaptable.
Fortunately for the developers, the best way to meet all their specifications for this new project was with the same Presagis tools that were already in place. While the focus of the project shifted from the development and testing of cockpit instrumentation to the construction of a simulation system for tactical training and development, Presagis products remained at the heart of the development process for the T3SIM.
Configurability, Scalability & Adaptability
Even with the change in focus for the project, using Presagis' products helped the T3SIM development team to meet their new design objectives. Using the VAPS and STAGE suites of tools, the developers configured the simulator with generic, parametric system models that give the end-user a new level of freedom and flexibility in how they use the simulation system.
In order to realize their scalability objective, which requires using modules that can be added or removed, the development team relies on the portability of Presagis' tools. By using VAPS and STAGE, the T3SIM is able to run on a single desktop computer as well as at a full simulator facility.
Because its local network allows hardware-in-the-loop as well as parametric software modules to accommodate new types of systems and platforms, the T3SIM also meets its adaptability objective. In addition, the T3SIM's compatibility with High Level Architecture (HLA) will allow it to run with other simulators for joint exercises.
The adaptability of the T3SIM is essential to ensuring that the simulator can respond to the changing needs of its users. Initially, as Sahlberg explains, "the T3SIM was designed for air-to-air combat and BVR scenarios. Now, the simulations offer a broader approach and include reconnaissance as well as air-to-ground missions." In order to satisfy their customers requirements, the T3SIM developers depend on the Presagis products at the heart of the simulator. Sahlberg says that, "because we know we can rely on VAPS and STAGE to be stable, efficient solutions, the SAAB team is able to focus on the T3SIM upgrades and adaptations rather than on creating new tools."
Next Generation Simulator
The T3SIM marks the future of simulation training. According to Sahlberg, "the T3SIM's pilot stations are not intended to simulate specific aircraft but instead represent typical 4th generation fighter aircraft. The aircraft dynamics, sensors, and weapons are all generic parameter-driven models that can easily be adapted to emulate any existing, or even non-existing, realization of the function."
The T3SIM is already adapting to the industry's move toward more screen-based controls. However, the developers at SAAB have kept the traditional throttle and flight stick for the pilot stations in order to help the pilots to adapt to the simulation environment. This means that pilots training in the T3SIM receive vital experience with next-generation technology while maintaining a certain level of familiarity with their HMIs.
Incorporating Presagis COTS tools into their production has helped the developers at SAAB to take the T3SIM beyond its original intent. As Sahlberg says, "using Presagis' products has made it possible for us to focus on the T3SIM itself. Because we can rely on COTS products, we are able to put our efforts into the overall lifecycle of the simulator. Presagis tools have reduced the cost of new development, have made it easy for us to develop new T3SIM functionalities, and have helped us to get these functionalities to our customers sooner."